Bottom line: The best Korean snacks to try are honey butter and corn-soup chips, Choco Pie, Pepero and crunchy ramyeon noodle snacks, and most cost ₩800 to ₩5,400 at CU, GS25 or 7-Eleven (CU lists Honey Butter Chip 60 g at ₩1,800 and a 12-pack of Choco Pie at ₩5,400). Shop at a convenience store or Daiso, compare the airport shelf before you pay more, and read your arrival country’s food rules before you pack. Prices as of 19 October 2026.
Quick Korea Travel Guide
Getting in: Landing at Incheon? See every airport-to-Seoul option before you buy snacks for the flight home.
Stay in touch: Get a Korea eSIM from Airalo before you fly (from US$4.00, as of Oct 2026) so maps and translation work inside the store.
Download first: Naver Map finds the nearest CU, GS25 or Daiso.
Where to book: Seoul food and market tour on GetYourGuide, Gwangjang street food tour on Klook and Gwangjang Market tour on KKday.
Getting around: T-money vs Climate Card covers the transit card most visitors use.
For more planning: Korea Travel Toolkit.
Disclosure: Some links are affiliate links. If you book through them I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Korean snack shelves are bigger than most visitors expect, so this guide narrows the best Korean snacks to try and buy into one list: what each snack is, what CU charges for it today, where to shop (convenience stores, Daiso, Lotte Mart, Olive Young and airport duty free) and how to get a bag of them home. For a seasonal gift snack, see our Pepero Day guide, and for the freezer aisle read our Korean ice cream shop guide.
Quick answer
- Start with: Haitai Honey Butter Chip, Orion Kkobuk Chip (turtle chips), Orion Choco Pie, Lotte Pepero, Nongshim Saewookkang shrimp crackers and Ottogi Ppushu Ppushu noodle snacks.
- Typical price: ₩800 to ₩2,000 for a single bag or box and ₩5,400 for a 12-pack of Choco Pie on CU’s product pages (19 October 2026).
- Where to buy: CU, GS25, 7-Eleven and emart24 for variety, Daiso for ₩1,000 to ₩1,500 minis, Lotte Mart for multi-packs.
- At the airport: Lotte Duty Free has food stores on the 3F duty-free level of Incheon Terminal 1, and the press reports a CU Snack & Ramen Library in Terminal 2.
- Customs: rules differ by country, and meat-containing seasonings are the usual problem, so check your border agency’s page before you pack.
Top pick · Gwangjang and Jongno · via GetYourGuide
Seoul: Guided Food & Market Tour with 8+ Tastings
⭐ 4.9/5 from 512 GetYourGuide reviews · 3 hours · from ₩127,980 per person · free cancellation up to 24 hours before (as of Oct 2026)
What this guide covers
What Are the Best Korean Snacks?
Korean snacks (gwaja) fall into three groups: salty bags such as chips and shrimp crackers, sweet biscuits and cream pies, and gift boxes and seasonal editions. The big makers are Orion, Nongshim, Haitai, Lotte Wellfood, Ottogi and Crown, and their products sit side by side on every convenience-store shelf. The best Korean snacks for a first trip are the ones that are cheap to test, easy to find and sturdy enough to carry home.
Shelf prices below come from CU’s own product pages on 19 October 2026; GS25 and 7-Eleven stock close equivalents, so check the tag in store. Our convenience store guide compares the chains.
1. Best Korean Snacks by Type
Chips and crunchy snacks
Honey Butter Chip from Haitai is the snack that started Korea’s flavour craze; CU lists the 60 g bag at ₩1,800 and the 120 g bag at ₩3,600. Kkobuk Chip (turtle chips) from Orion is a layered corn chip, and the corn-soup flavour is ₩1,700. Orion’s Pocachip original is ₩1,700 for 66 g, Nongshim’s Saewookkang shrimp crackers are ₩1,600 for 90 g, and Orion’s Ojingeo Peanut (squid-flavoured peanut snack) is ₩1,600 for 98 g. Nongshim’s Kkul-kkwabaegi honey twists are ₩1,800 for 90 g.
Cookies and chocolate pies
Choco Pie is the classic: two soft cakes, marshmallow and a chocolate coat. Orion’s 12-pack is ₩5,400 at CU and a 2-pack is ₩900. Lotte’s Mongshell six-pack is ₩3,500, Haitai’s Home Run Ball chocolate puffs are ₩2,000 for 46 g, and Lotte’s Kancho chocolate-cream biscuits are ₩1,500. Orion’s Digestive biscuit is ₩2,000 and Haitai’s Ace cracker is ₩1,800. Fresh-style pies sold under store brands run about ₩2,900 and need the fridge, so they are a snack for the day, not for the suitcase.
Chocolate and Pepero
Lotte’s Pepero biscuit sticks are ₩2,000 a box at CU, and the same brand turns into a gift item every November; see our Pepero Day guide for the 11 November packs. Orion’s Choco Songi (mushroom-shaped biscuit with chocolate) is ₩1,200, Haitai’s Free Time bar is ₩1,400 and Lotte’s Ghana peanut bar is ₩1,300. VisitKorea also lists the CU Seongsu Dessert Park Branch (21 Yeonmujang 3-gil, Seongdong-gu) as a dessert-focused convenience store with Dubai-style chocolates.
Jelly, candy and yakgwa
Crown’s My Chew fruit chews are ₩800 each in strawberry, apple and grape, Orion’s Wang Kkumteul-i gummy worms are ₩1,000 for 67 g, and Haitai’s Yeonyanggaeng red-bean jelly bar is ₩900. For something more Korean, yakgwa (a honey-ginger fried cookie) is the safest gift: CU sells Samlip Mini Honey Yakgwa at ₩1,300, and our Daiso guide reports the same product at ₩1,500 as Daiso’s top food with foreign shoppers. VisitKorea says yakgwa typically lasts one to six months at room temperature.
Ramyeon snacks
Ramyeon turns up in snack form too. Ottogi’s Ppushu Ppushu crunchy noodle snack is ₩1,500 at CU in bulgogi, BBQ, seasoned-chicken, cheese and roasted-onion flavours, and Ottogi’s Yeol Ramyeon Pretzel is ₩1,900. For a hot bowl, CU lists Ottogi Jin Ramyeon Spicy cup at ₩1,600 and Sesame Ramyeon cup at ₩2,200, and Daiso’s food ranking on 6 October 2026 had Ottogi Sesame Ramen at ₩1,000. Late-night ramyeon with a hot-water station is covered in the convenience store guide.
Seasonal and limited editions
Limited editions are where the shelf gets fun. Lotte’s 2026 Pepero Day packs list at ₩8,000 to ₩16,000 on its own shop (Stray Kids and Sanrio collabs), CU tags new arrivals with a NEW badge on its product pages, and Korean cafés and bakeries lean on strawberry desserts from winter to early spring, according to VisitKorea. If a pack has a character on it and a sticker that says limited, buy it on the first visit because stock rotates.
The best Korean snacks at a glance
| Snack | Maker | Type | CU price (19 Oct 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Honey Butter Chip 60 g | Haitai | Potato chips | ₩1,800 |
| Kkobuk Chip corn soup | Orion | Layered corn chip | ₩1,700 |
| Saewookkang 90 g | Nongshim | Shrimp crackers | ₩1,600 |
| Pocachip original 66 g | Orion | Potato chips | ₩1,700 |
| Ojingeo Peanut 98 g | Orion | Peanut snack | ₩1,600 |
| Choco Pie 12-pack | Orion | Cake and marshmallow | ₩5,400 |
| Home Run Ball 46 g | Haitai | Chocolate puffs | ₩2,000 |
| Pepero Chocolate | Lotte | Biscuit sticks | ₩2,000 |
| Ppushu Ppushu (bulgogi) | Ottogi | Noodle snack | ₩1,500 |
| Mini Honey Yakgwa | Samlip | Honey cookie | ₩1,300 |
2. Where to Buy Korean Snacks
The best Korean snacks are sold almost everywhere, so pick the shop that fits your route. This table compares the five places visitors ask about most.
| Where | What you will find | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Convenience stores (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven, emart24) | The full range in single-serve sizes, plus limited editions | ₩800 to ₩2,000 per bag; 1+1 and 2+1 stickers are common. See the convenience store guide |
| Daiso | ₩1,000 to ₩1,500 minis such as Samlip Mini Honey Yakgwa and mini Choco Loops cookies | Fixed prices of ₩500 to ₩5,000; the range is narrower than a supermarket. See Daiso Korea must-buys |
| Lotte Mart (for example the Seoul Station branch) | Multi-packs and larger bags | Ask at the information desk whether the branch gives an immediate tax refund; Korea sets a ₩15,000 minimum per receipt |
| Olive Young | Mostly beauty | Go for skincare gifts and do the snack shopping elsewhere. See what to buy at Olive Young and Olive Young Seoul stores |
| Airport duty free | Gift-boxed snacks, chocolate, candy and Korean sweets | Lotte Duty Free food stores on the 3F duty-free level at Incheon Terminal 1 (near Gate 42, open 24 hours, and near Gate 35, 06:30 to 21:30); the duty-free limit is US$800 |
Lotte Duty Free’s online store groups its grocery range into “Snacks, Korean Traditional Confectionery & Rice Taffy”, “Chocolate” and “Candy/Jellies”, which is a useful preview of what the airport shelves carry. Businesskorea reported in August 2026 that CU has opened a Snack & Ramen Library convenience store in Incheon Terminal 2. Tax refund rules are item by item: the Korea Tourism Organization lists cooked food as not eligible, so ask at the till and read our Korea tax refund guide and duty free guide.
3. Typical Prices and Deals
Plan on ₩1,600 to ₩2,000 for a single bag of the best Korean snacks and ₩3,400 to ₩5,400 for multi-packs: CU lists Pocachip 137 g at ₩3,400, Honey Butter Chip 120 g at ₩3,600 and Choco Pie 12-pack at ₩5,400. A purple 2+1 badge on CU’s website means buy two, get one free. Poster deals that name Korean banks or pay apps rarely work with a foreign card, as the Pepero Day guide explains, but a plain 1+1 sticker works for everyone.
Cards are fine at most chain stores. Keep a few ₩1,000 notes for market stalls and read how much cash to bring to Korea for ATMs and prepaid cards. Unmanned ice cream discount stores also stock snacks and drinks beside the freezers, and the way they work and what they charge is in our Korean ice cream shop guide.
To taste your way through a market with a guide, try the Klook half-day street food experience or the KKday Gwangjang culinary adventure; our Gwangjang Market guide covers the market.
Gwangjang pick · 2 hours · via Klook
Gwangjang Market Half-Day Street Food Experience with Souvenir
⭐ 5.0/5 from 194 Klook reviews · 2 hours · English · join-in group · souvenir included (as of Oct 2026)
Gwangjang pick · 2 hours · via KKday
Seoul Walking Tour | Gwangjang Market: Culinary Adventure Tour
⭐ 5.0/5 on KKday · 2 hours · English guide · free cancellation 2 days before (as of Oct 2026)
4. Taking Korean Snacks Home
Korea Customs Service’s passenger clearance guide covers what you bring into Korea. For taking the best Korean snacks home, the border agency of the country you land in sets the food rules, so check its page before you pack. These are the high-level points from three official pages:
- United Kingdom: GOV.UK lists biscuits, chocolate and confectionery (not those made with a lot of unprocessed dairy ingredients), pasta and noodles (not if mixed or filled with meat) and packaged soup, stocks and flavourings as allowed into Great Britain from any country without restrictions.
- United States: CBP says many prepared foods are admissible but almost anything containing meat products, such as bouillon and soup mixes, is not, so read the ingredient list on ramyeon and cup noodles. CBP points to USDA APHIS for details.
- Australia: the Department of Agriculture says to declare certain food on your Incoming Passenger Card, including snacks in small amounts, and that you will not face a penalty if you declare everything. The Australian Border Force has a food checker.
Other countries have their own pages, so search your border agency’s “bringing food” guidance before you buy in bulk. Pack chips and Pepero boxes in the middle of the suitcase, keep chocolate away from heat, and leave fridge items (fresh-style pies) behind. On departure day, shop hands-free by leaving bags at Radical Storage in Myeongdong (Myeongdong luggage storage).
Mobile data · via Airalo
South Korea eSIM (Airalo)
📶 Plans from US$4.00 · install the eSIM before you fly so store finders and translation work on arrival (as of Oct 2026)
Mistakes to Avoid
- Buying everything at the airport. Compare it with a convenience-store shelf first; CU’s prices are listed above.
- Packing cup noodles and ramyeon seasoning without reading the label. Meat-containing seasonings are the common reason food is refused at borders such as the United States.
- Skipping the declaration in Australia. Declare your snacks and let the officer decide.
- Assuming every poster deal applies to you. Offers tied to Korean cards or pay apps usually need a Korean account.
- Waiting for Pepero Day itself. Popular packs go early; see the Pepero Day guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the best Korean snacks to try?
Start with Haitai Honey Butter Chip, Orion Kkobuk Chip, Orion Choco Pie, Lotte Pepero, Nongshim Saewookkang and Ottogi Ppushu Ppushu. CU lists each at ₩1,500 to ₩2,000 per bag or box, and ₩5,400 for 12 Choco Pie (19 October 2026).
How much do Korean snacks cost?
At CU, single bags and boxes cost ₩800 to ₩2,000 and multi-packs ₩3,400 to ₩5,400 as of 19 October 2026. Daiso sells minis at ₩1,000 to ₩1,500 and Pepero Day packs list at ₩8,000 to ₩16,000.
Where can I buy Korean snacks in Seoul?
At convenience stores such as CU, GS25, 7-Eleven and emart24, at Daiso, at supermarkets such as Lotte Mart and at airport duty-free food stores. Olive Young is mainly for beauty.
What Korean snacks make good gifts?
Sealed boxes and bags travel best: Choco Pie, Pepero, Honey Butter Chip and yakgwa. VisitKorea says yakgwa typically lasts one to six months at room temperature.
Can I bring Korean snacks through customs?
It depends on the country you land in. GOV.UK allows biscuits, chocolate and confectionery without restrictions, US CBP says almost anything containing meat products is not admissible, and Australia asks you to declare snacks. Check your border agency before you pack.
Where can I buy Korean snacks at Incheon Airport?
Lotte Duty Free runs food stores on the 3F duty-free level of Terminal 1, near Gate 42 (24 hours) and Gate 35 (06:30 to 21:30), according to Incheon Airport. The press also reports a CU Snack & Ramen Library in Terminal 2.
What are the best Korean ramyeon snacks?
Ottogi Ppushu Ppushu (₩1,500 at CU) is the crunchy noodle snack, Ottogi Yeol Ramyeon Pretzel is ₩1,900, and cup ramyeon such as Jin Ramyeon Spicy is ₩1,600.
What does 2+1 mean on Korean snacks?
It means buy two and get one free. CU shows a purple 2+1 or 1+1 badge on eligible items, and plain stickers like these work for any customer.
What Else Should You Buy Besides Snacks?
For gifts that are not food, read Korea souvenirs under ₩10,000, compare skincare in what to buy at Olive Young, and check the shelves at Daiso. For a cold treat, see our Korean ice cream shop guide.
Sources (official pages checked)
- CU (BGF Retail), product pages: snack prices and 2+1 badges (19 October 2026)
- VisitKorea, Top 5 K-Desserts: yakgwa shelf life, strawberry season, CU Seongsu Dessert Park Branch
- Incheon Airport, duty-free shop list (Lotte Duty Free food stores, Terminal 1)
- Lotte Duty Free, Grocery/Gourmet Food categories
- VisitKorea, Comprehensive Tax Refund Guide (items not eligible, US$800 duty-free limit)
- Korea Customs Service, Customs Clearance Guide for Passengers
- GOV.UK, Bringing food into Great Britain
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Prohibited and restricted items
- Australian Department of Agriculture, International travel
- Businesskorea, 20 August 2026: Incheon Airport becomes a K-food showcase
Book the basics for your Korea trip
Affiliate links: we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Related Guides
- Korea Travel Toolkit: what to book before you fly
- Pepero Day 2026 – gift packs and where to buy
- Korea convenience store guide – CU, GS25, 7-Eleven
- Korean ice cream shops – unmanned stores and prices
- Korea souvenirs under ₩10,000 – cheap gifts
- Daiso Korea must-buys – ₩1,000 snacks and gifts
- What to buy at Olive Young – skincare gifts
- Seoul food tours – compared by area
- Gwangjang Market – street food
- Namdaemun Market – everyday Korean goods
- Korea tax refund – limits and steps
- Korea duty free – airport shopping
- How much cash to bring to Korea
- Incheon Airport to Seoul – arrival options
- Myeongdong luggage storage – shop hands-free
Information as of 19 October 2026. Prices, promotions and customs rules change, so confirm on the shelf tag, the chain’s site and your border agency’s page before you buy or pack.
